Mansfield Town vs Wigan Athletic | FA Cup Preview
Wigan Athletic travel to the One Call Stadium to face Mansfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup.
Part One | An overview of our opponents. 🔎
Part Two | “Who to Watch” players. 👓
Part Three | What can we expect from this game? 🏟️
Wigan Athletic are back in cup action on Tuesday night, after the original match date of Saturday 11th January was postponed due to unplayable conditions, as we visit Mansfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup 🏆
On October 22nd, the Stags visited the Brick Community Stadium for our first League One meeting of the season and travelled home with all three points after a 2-1 victory.
Nigel Clough’s side have won four of their last five in League One while Shaun Maloney’s side have won two over the same period. 📊
Both managers will be keen to see their clubs face Premier League side Fulham in the fourth round, with £115,000 in the bank for winning this game.
Let’s see what we can expect from the third round of our FA Cup campaign 👇
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town supporters have been in dreamland since Nigel Clough and his hardworking squad brought the club back to League One. The Stags have won 11 of their 23 games so far and find themselves 9th in the table, level on points with Bolton Wanderers and Leyton Orient.
If you would like to learn more about Mansfield Town’s history, why they are nicknamed The Stags, and how their journey in returning to League One, you can read it all in our last match preview here 👇
Twelve league games have passed since Mansfield Town last met Wigan Athletic, where they have won four, drawn two, and lost six in that time.
The Stags were 4th in the table when they arrived at the Brick Community Stadium and after adding three more points to their tally they had 23 points from 11 games. For a newly promoted side, that is a brilliant tally and saw them match Wrexham's start with a much smaller investment in the football club. 👏
However, after securing a 2-1 victory against the Latics, Mansfield went on a run of seven league games without a victory which only saw them pick up points against Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic, with five consecutive losses in between those draws against Wrexham, Bristol Rovers, Wycombe Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, and Huddersfield Town.
Nigel Clough could still take positives from a difficult November as Mansfield started the month with a 4-0 away victory over Curzon Ashton in the FA Cup First Round before Steven McLaughlin netted the winner in a tight 1-0 Second Round victory over Stevenage 🏆
Mansfield have played five games since their draw with Charlton on December 14th, winning four and losing just once away at Reading. Their upturn in form will give them good momentum coming into our FA Cup Third Round tie.
📊 Mansfield Town’s Last 5 League One Games
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✅ Mansfield Town 1 - 0 Rotherham United
⚽️ Goal: D. Oshilaja (27’)
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✅ Peterborough United 0 - 3 Mansfield Town
⚽️ Goals: B. Cargill (6’), W. Evans (9’, 31’)
🅰️ Assists: K. Baccus (6’, 31’)
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❌ Reading 2 - 1 Mansfield Town
⚽️ Goal: W. Evans (45’)
🅰️ Assist: E. Hewitt (45’)
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✅ Mansfield Town 2 - 1 Bolton Wanderers
⚽️ Goals: S. McLaughlin (20’), L. Gregory (36’)
🅰️ Assist: H. Boateng (36’)
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✅ Stockport County 1 - 2 Mansfield Town
⚽️ Goals: L. Gregory (12’), W. Evans (39’)
🅰️ Assists: H. Boateng (12’), H. Boateng (39’)
On Thursday 9th January, Mansfield Town announced that they had signed former Barnsley midfielder, Matthew Craig, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur for the remainder of the campaign. ✍️
The Stags needed to add more depth to their side as fatigue looked to be setting in at times, and this is a smart signing that will help them from now until the end of the campaign.
Nigel Clough can take great pride in the side he has built for this season, as they are an extremely tight-knit and hardworking squad with many standout players.
However, the Gaffer has highlighted a few injury issues ahead of the game.
◻️ Rhys Oates (Forward) will be unavailable for selection after picking up a knee injury recently. He has had a scan and an injection, but his return to the field will not come against Wigan Athletic.
◻️ Lucas Akins (Forward) has been out since New Year’s Day with a foot injury, but Clough has stated that he should be okay for this game. Although, he has not taken part in as many training sessions as they would have liked.
◻️ Will Evans (Forward) was forced off the field just after the hour mark against Stockport County with a groin issue. Clough has stated that Evans ‘may well be available, but we are not sure’.
◻️ Deji Oshilaja (Defender) took a knock to his heel against County, but the short break in the fixture schedule has helped him recover well enough to be in contention for this FA Cup tie.
Here are the three players that have stood out to me througout the season 👇
Will Evans
👕 Number 11 | Position: Forward | Age: 27
✍️ Joined on August 4th 2024 from Newport County
You will remember Will Evans’ name from the last time we played Mansfield, as his excellent 29th-minute strike opened the scoring at the Brick Community Stadium.
That goal was the 27-year-old’s fifth of the League One campaign, and he has added another five since then. 🔟⚽️
After not scoring a goal in November, Evans netted four times in December - including a brace against Peterborough United - and netted the winner against Stockport County most recently.
The forward does not need too much time and space to be successful, and the partnership he has developed with Lee Gregory is key to the Stags’ success.
As Clough mentioned, Evans could be available after sustaining a groin injury against Stockport County ten days ago. However, this could mean that if involved he may not start.
Hiram Boateng
👕 Number 44 | Position: Centre-Midfield | Age: 29
✍️ Joined on June 15th 2022 from MK Dons
A player who has gone slightly under the radar this season, with just 11 starts in 21 appearances, is central midfielder, Hiram Boateng.
The 29-year-old made three appearances from the bench to start the campaign but scored in his first start against Stockport County in August.
Boateng then started in his next six consecutive appearances but was an unused substitute when the Stags faced Wigan in October.
Clough has handed Boateng just four starts in his last 11 appearances, and in his last three starts, he has scored the opener against Bolton in December, before assisting Evans’ winner against Bolton in January and then providing both assists in the 2-1 victory over Stockport County. 💪
The midfielder has made the most key passes (a pass that leads to a shot but not a goal) in the Stags’ squad with 25 and has hit the target with 4 of his 6 attempts on goal.
Boateng is showing that he can be a huge asset to the team when given the time to impact games, and his name is going to be a hard one for Clough to leave off the teamsheets from now on.
Keanu Baccus
👕 Number 17 | Position: Right Midfield | Age: 26
✍️ Joined on May 22nd 2024 from St Mirren
If you are sitting there thinking ‘How has Lee Gregory not been included?’. Well, that is a very valid question to ask. 💬
Gregory has nine goals to his name in League One and is the second-highest scorer at the club. However, I covered him in our last Mansfield Town preview and I wanted to shed some light on Keanu Baccus in this one.
Mansfield’s Australian right midfielder has started in 16 of his 20 appearances in League One, scoring 1 goal and providing 4 assists - the most in the squad. 🅰️
The 26-year-old has missed out on the last two matches, but there doesn’t seem to be an injury concern.
If Baccus is involved in this FA Cup tie, his tenacious drives down the right wing will be something our left side needs to be prepared for as we have been weak in defending this area of the field in recent times.
When it comes to the FA Cup, it is hard to know what to expect. The different meaning that rides on this game compared to the league brings a different intensity and desire.
Mansfield’s road to the Third Round saw them comfortably beat Curzon Ashton in the first round, but find themselves fortunate to beat Stevenage in the second round. The Boro came close to scoring on plenty of occasions but Christy Pym’s heroics kept them out.
Wigan are travelling away in the FA Cup for the third time this season after a 2-0 victory at Carlisle United was followed by a 2-1 victory away at Cambridge United.
In League One, the Latics’ away record is marginally better than our home record with 15 of our 27 points picked up on the road - albeit we have played a game extra away from home.
I can’t see a situation occurring where Shaun Maloney rests many players from our regular starting lineup, but I would like to see Joseph Hungbo given an opportunity from the start. 🔄
Hungbo looked lively when he came on against Birmingham City last time out, and his drives down the right side could ask the Mansfield defence plenty of questions throughout the first half. Our two-time FA Cup game-winner, Jonny Smith, can then come on to show what he can do in the latter stages.
My biggest worry coming into this game is how our left side copes against a well-drilled Clough team…
With recent performances in mind, I would like to see Luke Robinson and Callum McManaman start on the left side to have a more natural left-sided defender on the field with the experienced leader further up the wing to get stuck into challenges and make it an area of the field where the Stags don’t want to venture over to.
After both of our FA Cup games so far have gone to extra time, and the Latics have lacked that killer edge more often than not throughout this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this game go to another 120 minutes. However, we have shown that we can win when going the distance, and I back us to do the same again.
The winner will host Fulham in the Fourth Round with the tie taking place over the weekend of Saturday 8th February 2025. 🏆
👕 Starting XI Prediction: Sam Tickle, Toby Sibbick, Jason Kerr, Will Aimson, Luke Robinson, Jensen Weir, Scott Smith, Joseph Hungbo, Thelo Aasgaard, Callum McManaman, Dale Taylor
⚽️ Score Prediction: Mansfield Town 2 - 2 Wigan Athletic (Wigan to win in extra time)
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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